My Textiles

January 2012

01/24/2012

We just love spending a weekend afternoon exploring different markets in search of ingredients for dinner. This weekend our first stop was the San Francisco Herb Company, a small little shop in the Mission that sells all sorts of herbs at wholesale prices. Our basket was stuffed with a variety of 8-16 oz bags plus a small tube of saffron, and the best part was we only spent 30 bucks!

Next, we headed to the mexican markets for veggies, the seafood market for fresh fish, and finally the liquor store for Pernod, all of which was needed for our dish. Pernod is an anise-favored liqueur from France, often sipped mixed with water as an aperitif. With all of our ingredients on hand, we couldn't wait to make this Adam Ried recipe, from our Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Soups cookbook.

For our fish we used sea bass, and for the aioli, we cut the oil down to a tablespoon, and used approx. 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast as a thickener, and pureed the ingredients together.

With tender chunks of succulent fish swimming in a wonderful blend of slightly sweet, citrusy and aromatic flavors – this dish was absolutely exquisite, and tasted like it came from a fine dining restaurant. And the aioli-topped croutons were the perfect compliment for sopping up that oh so tasty broth. If you are craving a light and robust seafood stew, you'll love this dish!

01/20/2012

Tis the season to get your soup on, and that’s just what we did last night with this tasty Adam Reid recipe, right out of our William Sonoma New Flavors for Soups book. We used butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes, 3 links of smoked andouille sausage instead of lamb, and spiced it up with Trader Joe’s South African Smoke Seasoning Blend. We love that stuff and add it to just about everything!

Wow – with the perfect blend of smoky, spicy, savory and sweet harmonizing with all that lovely texture and complexity, our taste buds were singing with joy as we happily slurped away on this tasty bowl of hearty goodness.